Can hives be a sign of sensitive skin rather than allergy

[madhen123]

Hello,

Bit of a long message but please hoping someone can help.

My baby is 7.5 months and we think she has a milk allergy. Every time we've tried giving her formula in the past (she's EBF) she's vomited. The first time she had formula, when she was 2 months old, i ended up taking her to A&E because she threw up all the formula and then wouldnt keep down breastmilk and kept throwing up her feeds. The doctors said perhaps we had given her too much formula, as we gave her a full feed instead of introducing it slowly, because she had only had breastmilk until that point she might be sensitive to the change. So we didnt think it was an allergic reaction. About 2 months ago we tried her on formula again and she threw up. But no other symptoms. I tried her on a different brand a few weeks later and she threw up, and where the sick touched her skin she came up in red blotches. Since then we tried her on another brand but this time we dripped some on her skin rather than making her sick, and she came up in localised hives. I took her to see the doctor and they referred us to allergy clinic but we have to wait 3 months for the appointment. So we fed her a tiny bit of yoghurt, to make sure it was the milk rather than some other formula ingredient and she didn't have any reaction. So the next day I gave her a bit more yoghurt and let her feed herself, it got a bit messy and she developed bad hives but didnt vomit. So I'm guessing this means she has a milk allergy?? Or could it be a contact reaction?

The thing is since then she's also had hives to egg and weirdly tonight peas. She doesn't vomit with these either but just gets hives, mainly where the food has touched her skin. With egg she came up in hives in areas where food had not touched though and she seems to have developed a lot of eczema after the egg. Am I causing her to have reactions to food because I'm introducing things when her immune system is already sensitive from reacting to the milk she's obviously allergic to?.

I normally wait 3 days before introducing a new allergen apart from peas which I did in the same day as egg as I didn't realise it was an allergen.

I'm a bit worried about the fact she's reacting to all these things and I haven't even introduced peanuts or fish or the other allergens yet.

I guess what I'm asking is, has anyone had a similar thing where food causes hives but not any gastro effects? And does that mean it could be sensitive skin with the egg and peas, rather than an allergy? And is it usual for a baby to be reacts to so many types of food?

Thanks for reading sorry it's so long!

If she has a pea allergy she very likely has a peanut allergy. My sone is allergic to legumes including peanuts and peas. They are in the same family,
Think you need to be referred to an allergist asap. Unfortunately my son has eczema and I didn’t wean until he was 6months as per advice from uneducated not up to date health professionals. All the latest research says you should wean from about 4/5 months especially if your child has eczema. This is because you need to get the allergens in the gut before they get in via the weakened skin barrier. Too late for my son who developed egg, wheat, tree nut and legume/peanut allergies. Luckily he grew out of the egg and wheat allergy.
I weaned my next two kids as per the allergists advice at 4 months and they don’t have any allergies.
Atopic kids are more prone to food allergies. Hives/urticaria are more likely an allergy reaction than sensitive skin reaction but they all go in hand. It’s a histamine reaction.
Asthma is likely too. My son once we got the exam and allergies under control moved on to viral wheeze and frequent hospitalisations and eventually asthma diagnosis.
See a consultant allergist asap as fast as you can. Pay for it if you can. Don’t delay with this.sorry but gps are useless and a waste of time.

I agree with seeing a Consultant in Allergies. There’s not a lot more o can add to what the PO has said

Thanks so much for your reply. So we have an appointment sooner with the dietetics team at a different hospital who said they can perform the skin prick tests there so we don't have to wait for those before being seen by the allergy team. Emeraldsrock, did you do skin prick tests or see a dietetics team? Feeling quite overwhelmed by it all as reading online that skin prick tests can be inaccurate!! I want to go private but we don't have the money as from enquiries it seems to cost over £1000 pounds for all the consultations and tests

Hives will generally be an IgE allergy, yes.

Milk and egg are incredibly common.

Peas is becoming much more common now too. My son had a pea allergy, but was fine with peanuts.

Allergy testing isn't very accurate unfortunately, but if you've had reactions (which you have), this is the best test really. The tests can then be used to see how she's doing as she gets older, and hopefully starts outgrowing.

Thanks GloriusBlue. I'm just so surprised she has reacted to so many as neither me or my husband have a history of allergies. When she was born the hospital put her on a dose of high antibiotics, as they worried I/she had sepsis. And also I had to be on antibiotics for various infections post birth for 40 days whilst breastfeeding. I think maybe this has contributed to her sensitivity to every thing, which makes me very sad as I knew I/she was fine RE the sepsis but the hospital said they wanted to as her temp was a tiny bit low twice. Even though it had gone back up to normal by the time morning had come and remained stable for hours.

Is your son out growing his pea allergy?

I get it. My son reacted to 10 foods at weaning (!) and there's no allergies in our familes. Total shock, though he did have bad eczema.

He was a c section baby and had antibiotics at 3 weeks, but so do lots of other babies. I think we're just unlucky.

He's 4 now and outgrown pea, chickpea, sesame, and beans without us doing anything.

We do immunotherapy in London for the nuts.

My advice would be to keep a food diary, get any eczema well controlled with topical steroids, use a barrier cream (like doublebase) around mouth when eating, and introduce as much as you can asap. Check out the LEAP study x